'Upset' Thackeray vows action against MNS leader who slapped old man

A day after a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena corporator was caught on camera repeatedly slapping a senior citizen over a delay in repairing a damaged water pipeline, the party has said it will not tolerate this behaviour, and will take action against him.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray is reportedly upset over the incident. The party General Secretary (Legal), told NDTV, "We can't tolerate a senior citizen being slapped. Raj Thackeray was upset seeing the visuals," said Akhilesh Chaubey.

65-year-old DG Patil had taken up a contract for repairing a water pipeline in Kalyan (East. He works as a private contractor with the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC).

Reuters

According to reports, Nitin Nikam had summoned Patil following complaints about delays in water pipeline repair work in the area that had led to water scarcity.

On Sunday morning, ABP Mhaza, a Marathi news channel, telecast footage of Nikam, a corporator of the Kalyan–Dombivli civic body, slapping an elderly man. Firspost columnist Mahesh Vijapurkar wrote, "The victim was a mukkadam of a contractor and he was being punished for an alleged bad piece of work on a broken drinking water pipeline.

After Patil lodged a complaint with Kolsewadi police station, a non-cognisable offence was registered against Nikam under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.

Later, Nikam justified his reprehensible behaviour, saying he “used the (only) language” these people understand, which is the language of the muscle.

However, Senior inspector Jagdish Lojalkar of the Kolsewadi police station said it was a bailable offense.“It was just a slap. The corporator is not a government servant and the contractor was not seriously injured,” he told Indian Express.

Nikam is a politician elected on the ticket of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena which had promised during election time that the party and its corporators would not be found wanting in governance practices.